FAMILIES living in a row of cottages in Downside have been forced to spend hundreds of pounds after their drainage system stopped working a month ago.

Six families living in the Forge Cottages in Chilbrook Road, say they have been unable to shower, do laundry or even flush their toilets after a pipe burst on Tuesday April 3.

Despite a change in government legislation in October - aimed at transferring the burden of broken, blocked and damaged sewers from consumers to water companies - Thames Water has told residents it is not the company’s responsibility.

A spokesman for the water company told the Surrey Advertiser: “We have been made aware of an issue at Forge Cottages in Downside, this is being caused by a privately owned pumping station.”

However, residents have disputed the cause of the problem – suggesting the recent roadworks in Downside Bridge Road had been the cause of a blocked pipe.

Cristina Startin, said she and her neighbours have had to pay hundreds of pounds and have been without proper sewage drainage for a month.

“We have all tried several times to work with Thames Water to resolve this disaster but they simply state that as we are on a pump system, they are not responsible and leave us to live with the sewage problem,” Cristina explained.

“We are a group of six families, some with small children who have been left without the use of our drains and the daily threat of sewage backing up in to our homes.”

Cristina said her neighbours had to visit the homes of friends and relatives to shower and do their laundry.

“I had been bathing from a bucket of water that I then throw in the garden during all of this, Third World sort of existence,” she said.

Cristina’s husband has been staying in a hotel during the week.

“I moved here from New Orleans, Louisiana, and was in fact married here the day before Hurricane Katrina hit and often hear comments of shock at that system’s inability to cope with the disaster but what we are experiencing here is to me just as shocking.”

She said although the residents had paid for the sewage pipe at the front of the properties to be fixed and the blockage at the intersection that caused the burst pipe has been flushed, residents are still not able to use their drains fully.

“We are still very sparing in what we do because of the unsureness of the situation so still, no laundry, dishwashers so as not to put added pressure on the pipe in case there is further damage.”

Caroline Pegg, who lives in one of the Forge Cottages, said she has been forced to shower at work and send her teenage children to stay with family and friends at weekends.

She said: “It is completely outrageous in the 21st century in Surrey that we can be met with such obstructions by a utility company. I am not able to use the washing machine and dish washer, not able to have more than a minimal shower. We are a reasonably well educated group of people.

“God help those people who are not able to use the internet. The fact that we find it a complete battle is frightening.”

Hayley Toogood, another resident who has been affected, said: “We have a four-month old baby and not being able to do any washing, it is a nightmare. Thames Water were very unhelpful.”